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Portable solar charging solutions

rsimko

By rsimko
in Other Fuji X Accessories

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rsimko Apprentice

rsimko

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Hello guys, I would love to throw this out to see who has experience with this.

Did anybody worked out a portable solution for charging camera batteries that will last few days? I am going to Mongolia and even with few batteries in pack I am afraid of running out of juice.

Most affordable power banks allow for 2-3 extra charges charges but that doesn't suffice when one is out an about for days. Solar panel with combination of power bank seems as viable options, question is does anybody have real world experience with this?

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erwiurewurwehu Community Regular

erwiurewurwehu

Posted
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Hello guys, I would love to throw this out to see who has experience with this.

Did anybody worked out a portable solution for charging camera batteries that will last few days? I am going to Mongolia and even with few batteries in pack I am afraid of running out of juice.

Most affordable power banks allow for 2-3 extra charges charges but that doesn't suffice when one is out an about for days. Solar panel with combination of power bank seems as viable options, question is does anybody have real world experience with this?

I have tried a few solar chargers and it took a very long time to recharge a camera battery. In good light it took me around a day per battery. In cloudy weather it would probably take several days. This was with solar panels that could be used for hiking. Bigger panels would probably work better but are not easy to carry around.

 

If you have a car try to charge from there.

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darknj Experienced

darknj

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If you can not access regular sources of electricity, the only way I would advise you is this. It saved my bacon a few times when traveling abroad without reliable source of electricity.

 

It does take time to charge anything up, but it's a lot more reliable than solar panels.

 

Now, if you really want to use solar panels, find one with several panels, like these. The smaller ones are not good enough to get enough juices for your ,eeds.

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milandro Grand Master

milandro

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the hand crank dinamo generator is surely a better thing than any solar panel sold for the purpose of recharging any consumer electronic device.

 

Not long ago on Dutch telly there was an expert ( a regular scientist from the Delft tech-university ) who tested several solar re-chagers and the 3 best products, state of the art technology and very expensive, were just about acceptable when it came to recharge a phone in several hours, all the other tested product were just rubbish.

 

 

Just buy lots of batteries.

 

Wishful thinking is an oxymoron.

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erwiurewurwehu Community Regular

erwiurewurwehu

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If you can not access regular sources of electricity, the only way I would advise you is this. It saved my bacon a few times when traveling abroad without reliable source of electricity.

 

It does take time to charge anything up, but it's a lot more reliable than solar panels.

 

Now, if you really want to use solar panels, find one with several panels, like these. The smaller ones are not good enough to get enough juices for your ,eeds.

Wouldn't you have to crank for a few hours to charge a camera battery?

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darknj Experienced

darknj

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Wouldn't you have to crank for a few hours to charge a camera battery?

 

Few hours, certainly not. It's about the speed of your regular wall charger. So if you need about 30 mins to charge it, well.. crank it for 30 mins...

 

Quite note if you decide to crank it, it's not a race! Take your time and just be steady with your movements. I understand it's not perfect but then again, what are you going to do if you can not rely on a power outlet when in the wild ?

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CRAusmus Experienced

CRAusmus

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Travis Burke and Chris Burkard get great results out of their Goal Zero setups.  I'd definitely look into them.  I personally have a couple Guide 10's, a Switch 8 and Nomad 7 and love their system.  Of course neither of these has enough power to handle my camera,  for that I'd need at least a Sherpa 50, but I'd rather have a 100.  As a backpacker, I can tell you.  The system works, and works very well when used properly.

 

sherpa50-nomad13-inverter-pdp-1500x1000.

http://www.goalzero.com/p/149/sherpa-50-solar-kit

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Trenton Talbot Rising Star

Trenton Talbot

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Judging by Wasabi Power charger (the only Fuji compatible charger with an external power in port that I have), we gonna need at the very least 8.4V at 500mA to charge. It means that a 10W solar panel, at least in theory, will do just fine – even on a cloudy day.

 

I'll try to put this theory to test tomorrow, as I happen to have a cheap 10W panel laying around.

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CRAusmus Experienced

CRAusmus

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Wouldn't charge directly from a panel because you won't get a consistent output.  Use a solar panel to charge a battery pack that will deliver a consistent output.  It's near impossible to even charge an iPhone straight from the panel.  Mainly because the IPhone will disconnect if the wattage drops below it's requirement, but still.  I'd be too worried about damaging a battery charging directly off the panel, but that's just me...

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Trenton Talbot Rising Star

Trenton Talbot

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Wouldn't charge directly from a panel because you won't get a consistent output.  Use a solar panel to charge a battery pack that will deliver a consistent output.  It's near impossible to even charge an iPhone straight from the panel.  Mainly because the IPhone will disconnect if the wattage drops below it's requirement, but still.  I'd be too worried about damaging a battery charging directly off the panel, but that's just me...

Of course one needs to use a "mediator" battery, preferably a pass-through type.

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Trenton Talbot Rising Star

Trenton Talbot

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As expected, yesterday's test was a success. Cheap 10W solar panel was powerful enough to charge my USB power bank, which in turn had enough juice to power the Wasabi charger. 

 

Just a few considerations:

 

1. Make sure that your power bank is capable of pass-through (charging and exerting power at the same time).

2. Find a solar panel that is more or less weather sealed.

3. Figure out a way to position your solar panel perpendicular to sun rays. 

4. Bring a spare cable(s).

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erwiurewurwehu Community Regular

erwiurewurwehu

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As expected, yesterday's test was a success. Cheap 10W solar panel was powerful enough to charge my USB power bank, which in turn had enough juice to power the Wasabi charger. 

 

Just a few considerations:

 

1. Make sure that your power bank is capable of pass-through (charging and exerting power at the same time).

2. Find a solar panel that is more or less weather sealed.

3. Figure out a way to position your solar panel perpendicular to sun rays. 

4. Bring a spare cable(s).

May I ask what panel and power bank you have? I have a Goal Zero which has a 12V output which then can power the Wasabi charger. It takes a whole day to barely charge a camera battery. (in LA so there is enough sun).

 

How do you connect your Wasabi charger to the power bank? My charger has either 110V or 12V input.

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Trenton Talbot Rising Star

Trenton Talbot

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May I ask what panel and power bank you have? I have a Goal Zero which has a 12V output which then can power the Wasabi charger. It takes a whole day to barely charge a camera battery. (in LA so there is enough sun).

 

How do you connect your Wasabi charger to the power bank? My charger has either 110V or 12V input.

 

The solar panel is a no-brand, less than $50 shipped from dx.com. It only has a USB output. Power bank is a Hiper MP12500. It certainly takes a full day to juice up that power bank, but then you can charge quite a few camera batteries.

 

I use a USB "squid" to connect my power bank to just about anything. There's no need for an inverter. 

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erwiurewurwehu Community Regular

erwiurewurwehu

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The solar panel is a no-brand, less than $50 shipped from dx.com. It only has a USB output. Power bank is a Hiper MP12500. It certainly takes a full day to juice up that power bank, but then you can charge quite a few camera batteries.

 

I use a USB "squid" to connect my power bank to just about anything. There's no need for an inverter. 

Cool. I guess the Wasabi charger doesn't really need 12V to function. I'll try my own USB battery and see if it works.

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Trenton Talbot Rising Star

Trenton Talbot

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Cool. I guess the Wasabi charger doesn't really need 12V to function. I'll try my own USB battery and see if it works.

 

Mine has a folding US plug and a "car charger" hole (if I remember correctly, a generic car adapter was included). One would assume that it requires 12V… yet on a shield it says "8V 500mA".

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erwiurewurwehu Community Regular

erwiurewurwehu

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Mine has a folding US plug and a "car charger" hole (if I remember correctly, a generic car adapter was included). One would assume that it requires 12V… yet on a shield it says "8V 500mA".

Isn't the USB typically 5V? So it can even work with that.

 

The "squid" you are using. Does it give a cigarette lighter plug output or an output that goes straight to the charger? I can't find anything.

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Trenton Talbot Rising Star

Trenton Talbot

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The "squid" you are using. Does it give a cigarette lighter plug output or an output that goes straight to the charger? I can't find anything.

 

Here's the squid that I use, and here's another one. In both cases, you just plug one end into your USB power bank and an appropriate jack into Wasabi charger. No need for a cigarette lighter plug.

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